Unexpected Reactions
by AkibasOmega
Summary: Poppy Pomfrey can't do much as she stands by while Severus and Harry clash. Several words are said that shock the adults. Standard #1 for The House Competition


_House: Slytherin_

_Year: 5th_

_Class: Potions_

_Story Category: Standard_

_Prompt: [Character] Poppy Pomfrey/ [Speech] "How is it possible that someone as intelligent as (you/Name) can be so unfathomably dense?"_

_Word Count: 1738 (A/N 1774)_

The Infirmary doors banged open, startling the Medi-witch from her book. It was only the first week! Surely there weren't any incidents that would require her skills? But Poppy knew it wouldn't be that easy, she could hear Severus berating someone as she left her office. He was being unusually snide to whomever was accompanying him.

"Severus?"

"He's just there, Poppy." He gestured towards a bed.

Poppy Pomfrey shook her head as she took in the student's appearance. How a child ended up in her infirmary so often was beyond her, as the boy had not failed to ended up in her care almost immediately upon returning. More so when he was in Severus's Potions class, the boy was very accident prone. She cast a side glance at Severus, who seemed intent to loom in the doorway as she settled Potter onto his cot properly. Harry was there often enough she'd had it engraved.

"I see nothing wrong with him, other than being covered in ruined potion slime. There's no need for him to be here," she murmured to herself and the two men.

He didn't look to be ill at all; in fact, he was just lying there impassively. Still, the surly Potions Master wouldn't have brought in Harry if something wasn't wrong with the boy. Much as the man tried to deny it, Poppy knew that he cared a great deal for the young man. Poppy released the Petrificus Totalus curse, before taking in the occupants' reactions. But neither of them reacted in any way. In fact, they seemed to be ignoring each other. She turned away from the teen, gesturing Severus over.

She caught his attention. "Why exactly did you bring the boy, Severus?"

"Mr. Potter fouled up a Draught of Peace potion. Though I am unsurprised given his lack of intelligence." Severus sneered back at the teen. "It was merely precaution that made me bring him. Can't have the all important _Savior_ hurt by potion goop."

Harry surprised them both as he stood, still covered in goop but sneering nonetheless, "Shows what you know _Snape_. Just because I look like my father doesn't mean I am him, and you can't treat me as such just because you are too immature to let go of the past. He's dead, along with my mum, in case you didn't already know that, seeing as you were the reason behind it."

Poppy gasped, her hand flying to her chest. "Harry! That is not something you should say to anyone. No matter your dislike of each other!"

The teen didn't even grace her with faux remorse; he just shrugged. "Doesn't make it any less true, though, does it? Snarky bat deserves it. No wonder Sirius still treats him fouly."

There was a lull in the middle of the statement, as if the two were building themselves up for an explosive battle or something. Poppy observed as Severus seemed to puff up with indignation at the mere mention of Lily Potter, the expression on his face grew disturbed when Sirius was brought up. She knew that the late witch was a _very_ sore subject for the dour man—to hear it coming from Harry himself was probably a bombarda to the gut. But Harry had also brought up Sirius's treatment of Severus, which was a very low blow. The older man squared himself while Poppy just resigned herself to watching the verbal war brewing between both men.

"I happen to be quite good at potions, you know," Harry began. His tone seemed uninterested in their current conversation, but his eyes held restricted fury. "Of course, it would show better if the Slytherins, _your_ house, would stop throwing random ingredients into my cauldron."

"They would never dare!" Severus grounded out, but Poppy just sighed.

Unfortunately, it was something she heard from several other students who had classes with the Slytherins. Poppy had tried to bring up the problem with Severus before, but he'd assured her it was just bias and rumors coming from the other houses to make the Slytherins look worse. But she knew Harry wouldn't lie about something like that, especially with the large rivalry between Draco and himself.

Harry leveled the Potions Master with a glare that scared Poppy. "I suppose if I had _allowed_ the Sorting Hat to put me into Slytherin, you would still be covering for them, as they are your _comrades's_ children. Are they not? It's a shame that such favoritism and general neglect of teaching could ruin a professor's career, especially if they've a Mastery as well."

Neither of the adults could move for several moments. The teen seemed to check himself over, whispering under his breath before sighing. Poppy froze, her heart thudding heavily in her chest. She'd never seen the boy so spiteful. This wasn't the teen she had seen at the end of last year, but then again, so much had happened with all the excitement that Poppy hadn't made time to thoroughly check the boy over.

Still, Poppy hadn't expected the teen to use Severus's supposed loyalty to Voldemort against him. Surely the boy _knew_ that the man was a spy? But she supposed that after five years of potions accidents, he had every right to act that way, especially if it was caused by the man's own house and negligence. While she felt for Severus, it was something that was a long time coming and there was no way for her to shield him. However, Poppy didn't like how derisive and sadistic Harry was being to their resident Potions Master.

So Poppy and Severus stood silently, staring at the teen as he waved his wand over himself, vanishing the goop before straightening his clothes. He approached them slowly, sneer still in place. It was aimed at Severus, though, and Harry spared her a small smile. It was as if Severus being in the infirmary had personally offended him, but she supposed Harry was here too much to have developed a fondness of it, especially if his dislike of Severus was so large. Poppy hummed to herself. Harry reminded her a lot of a younger Severus; the two were shockingly alike.

But Poppy hadn't released Harry from the infirmary yet, so she was gearing up for an argument. "Mr. Potter, please return to your bed. I have not checked you over, nor have I released you."

"Perform your scan please, Madam Pomfrey, I'd hate to be in _his_ presence any longer. Voldemort would be preferable." The teen stated that in a manner which reminded Poppy of being both snubbed and insulted, publically.

Poppy paled, but did her usual scans, which popped a small sheet of parchment out. It was surprisingly blank. Normally her scans would produce the patient's name, age, date of birth, and any ailments the patient would have had, but Harry's name hadn't even appeared at the top of the parchment. The Medi-witch was shocked. What was causing this? The only time Poppy had seen this was when the patient was dead! She couldn't tear her eyes away from the empty parchment.

"How is it possible that someone as intelligent as you can be so unfathomably dense?"

Poppy wasn't sure which of the two had said it, but she could feel the temperature drop in the infirmary. She would have bet fifty galleons that it had been Severus who had said it, simply because Harry wouldn't have had the gall to question the man's intelligence.

Poppy caught Harry's faintly pained smile before he wiped his face. He looked very much like a stone statue at that moment. "Because I wasn't given a chance to thrive. I grew up looking after myself and surviving the Muggles. Perhaps I should become a Dark Lord, Tom and I are very similar after all. Oh well, food for thought. Good day, Madam Pomfrey."

"Ten points from Gryffindor for lack of proper respect!" Severus's voice rang through the mostly empty infirmary.

"My apologies, _Snivellus_. I mean, Professor Snape," the teen mocked. "Good day."

The two just watched in stunned, horrified silence as the teen sauntered his way out of the hospital wing. Poppy hadn't heard that insult since the boy's own father had graduated school, and it was bizarre watching James Potter's son being just as cruel to Severus as he had been, but with everything that had happened already it didn't shock Poppy at all. Perhaps the Headmaster's insistence that Harry connect with Sirius was another of the man's poor decisions. Poppy doubted that Sirius was acting as a proper role model.

She quickly got herself back under control before turning to Severus, who seemed to be growing paler by the moment, as if reliving his childhood all over again. Harry knew just how to eviscerate someone when he felt the need to do so—it was a bit Slytherin-ish of the young Gryffindor. She felt for Severus, a young man who had been singled out, who had been caught up in the Dark Lord's web at a young age. The man was probably horrified that the boy had brought those memories up, in front of her no less.

She was definitely upset that it had happened in her personal space. "What has gotten into that child?"

Poppy was equally shocked that the Light's Savior was acting so darkly and cruelly to them (well, mostly to Severus), as it wasn't something she was used to seeing in the teen. She couldn't imagine what the teen was going on about—how could he joke about something like becoming a Dark Lord? Poppy cursed Dumbledore in that moment. Hadn't that blasted man taught Harry anything about wizarding culture?

"Perhaps you should rest, Severus."

Poppy walked away from the stunned professor and locked herself in her room. She would worry about the school's treatment of Harry, in the possibility it could turn him into another Dark Lord? It was something she would definitely be bringing up in the next faculty meeting. There was no way Harry could be allowed to grow any more cynical and bitter.


End file.
